Courtesy David Lynch Foundation

The TM movement itself has had some bumps in its past. Developed in the 1950s by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, it rose to popularity after The Beatles “discovered” and helped propagate it – by the late 70s, 4% of Americans were practicing TM, according to a Gallup poll. Then things started to get shaky – and TM began to be associated with some cultishness. But in the last decade or so, the practice has gained back the respect and indeed acclaim, as people – some very famous ones – began to flock to it for its simple and straightforward method to find inner peace.

The business-meets-meditation stories are everywhere these days. Huffington told the endearing but jarring story of when she’d awoken in a pool of her own blood in her office, having passed out from exhaustion; it was then, she said, that she realized that money and power were only two legs of a three-legged stool – self-care, including meditation, being the other critical leg. And the list of companies that encourage their employees to meditate – by teaching it to them and by providing meditation time and space – is growing. Google, Target, Nike, Aetna, and Goldman Sachs have integrated meditation into their cultures.

But the more pressing focus of the David Lynch Foundation is to give psychological support in the form of TM, at low or no cost, to those who need it most: Veterans, schoolchildren, prison inmates, and women and children who have survived domestic abuse. To be sure, TM isn’t the only meditative practice that’s been used to help these groups of people. Yoga, mindfulness, and other forms of meditation are other increasingly common tools in the “service” arena. But, says Bob Roth, CEO of the David Lynch Foundation, there’s something quite simple and powerful about TM which makes it particularly well-suited to touch people who have been through emotional turmoil, or worse. Perhaps its greatest benefit is that it’s relatively quick to learn and easy to master. No waiting weeks or months of practice before you see results: TM cuts right to the chase, taking only days – or for some, minutes – before one feels reprieve from their painful and overwhelming thoughts.

“With TM, you’re given a mantra – a word with no meaning – and taught how to use it,” says Roth. “The active thinking mind settles down to a state of inner calm without any effort. It’s not clearing your mind, as in focused awareness meditation, and not gently observing thoughts as in open monitoring (which is vipassana, or mindfulness). I can put it even more succinctly: TM uses sounds or mantra that has no meaning as a vehicle to experience a quieter, less agitated thought process.”

With the two classical forms of meditation – focused awareness (samatha) and open monitoring/mindfulness (vipassana) there’s generally more practice involved. With focused awareness, the practitioner uses a mantra or other object of concentration to bring a wandering mind back, again and again. With open monitoring/mindfulness, people observe their thoughts with curiosity and some detachment, so that they eventually lose their charge. Though the former is typically learned before the latter, they ultimately work in tandem and complement one another in practice.

To describe TM’s psychological effects, Roth often uses an ocean analogy: An agitated mind, he says, is like 30-foot surges at the surface of the ocean. Focused awareness tries to stop the waves at the top, he says, while open monitoring tries to observe them until they go away. TM, on the other hand, says Roth, has its practitioners plunge deep below the waves, to a quieter depth that’s perfectly still, and blissful. Roth adds that unlike the two classic forms of meditation, “the third form of meditation, TM, is self-transcending. It’s not concentration, and it’s not simply observing thought. TM creates a specific type of alpha brain waves, which is indicative of a unique state of ‘restful alertness.’”

The practice does seem to be helping a great number of people. Roth says the Foundation has helped bring meditation to half a million school children all over the world, and hopes to bring it to three million adults and children in the next five years. It’s also taught TM to 2,000 veterans and as many female victims of domestic abuse through Family Justice Centers across the US, where it’s offered free of charge. The Foundation has also just begun to teach the perpetrators of that abuse, Roth says. The Foundation can barely keep up with all the requests it has from school systems, family centers, and prisons to teach TM.

“There is no medicine, no wonder drug you can take to prevent trauma and toxic stress. And there is no pill you can take to treat or cure it,” says Roth, “Ambien and Xanax, while perhaps helpful to some, are often abused or mere Band-Aid solutions.” There is some relatively strong evidence that TM can affect the stress response, and much of the scientific support for TM comes from its effects on the cardiovascular system, and blood pressure reduction. “The problem of stress is not going away, it’s getting worse and worse,” says Roth. “TM can be an effective tool. It helps you navigate increasingly stressful times. I’m a skeptical person. There’s nothing to believe in. There’s no buy-in. It just works.”

….

Roth says TM is so different from other meditative practices that it’s effective for anyone, even those who have undergone trauma, who have mental health disorders, or who are on the autism spectrum. But he acknowledges that the various forms of meditation aren’t mutually exclusive: “We support whatever is based in science,” he says. “If there is published data showing yoga or mindfulness is effective, then it should also be offered… What matters is outcome. TM produces a state of deep relaxation that reduces stress. I’m not saying you have to only do TM. Do what works.”

Since the nature of everyone’s stress and trauma is different, using a combination of methods is probably most effective, as with any treatment. The classic forms of meditation certainly have slews of brain science showing their neurological and psychological benefits over the long-term … There’s no doubt TM has helped a lot of people. Add in other types and it might do even more.”

Excerpt (c) Forbes Magazine

According to starpulse.com, Aniston has now confessed that her secret is her daily practice of Transcendental Meditation.

When asked about the number one thing which has kept her looking so amazing, Jennifer said:

“I’d say a little over a year ago I started doing TM and that’s really changed everything. Starting your day off with that and ending with that is pretty powerful. Twenty minutes, you just notice the difference. When I get lazy and don’t get it in, I can feel a difference. I do it first thing when I wake up.”

She also admitted that if yoga didn’t exist, she would probably have to invent it.

But what if she could trade bodies with someone for 24 hours?

“I’d love to be able to ski like a crazy person, like Lindsey Vonn. Then I’d also like to have Gisele’s body, just ‘cuz, why not?” Aniston referred to the supermodel and fellow fan of yoga and meditation, Gisele Bündchen.

New research conducted at Fort Gordon’s Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Georgia, USA has found that regular Transcendental Meditation (TM) practice reduces medication reliance along with anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in service members. The study was funded by a grant from the David Lynch Foundation’s Operation Warrior Wellness.

“The most pressing concern among military behavior and physical health providers is how best to provide effective quality care to Service Members,” says Dr. Vernon Barnes, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Georgia Regents University and lead author on the study. “These findings from our study suggest decreased psychotropic medication usage and improvements in psychological profile among servicemen and women practicing TM as compared to matched controls. We anticipate that these results will provide valuable insights into the benefits of TM as a viable treatment modality in military treatment facilities.”

The results for this research study were deemed to be “especially newsworthy” by the American Psychosomatic Society. “We hope that you will be pleased by this distinction as only a small fraction of the papers and posters accepted for presentation have been so designated. In our judgment, your work is likely to be of considerable interest to the general public and the scientific community,” said Kristen Salomon, Ph.D., Program Committee Chair, American Psychosomatic Society.

A full manuscript is currently in press with Military Medicine and will be published in late Spring.

I first heard about Transcendental Meditation back in the early 1990s. I had recently qualified as an architect, and the whole industry was going through a period of doom and gloom. I was working from morning to midnight in London and still couldn’t get on top of things. I was young, I had the energy, but there weren’t enough hours in the day.

One day I was with the man who mentored me at that time. We got into the back of his car, and he said: “I’m going to close my eyes — don’t disturb me.” When I asked him what he was doing, he pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down a name and telephone number, and said: “Go and see this lady.”

I knew nothing about TM or Maharishi. After the personal instruction, my teacher put me in a rocking chair with a blanket over me, and I disappeared. I knew instantly that it was right for me. It was amazing. I knew from the first day I sat in that chair it was going to save my life.

I had just started a family with young kids and I felt that, left unchecked, my health was going to suffer. I saw an immediate improvement to my breathing, to my heart rate.

TM has turned out to be a really effective managerial tool for me. I realised at one point that it wasn’t about doing more, it was about doing less, but doing it more strategically, more effectively. If I start the day with 10 action points, I usually find that five or six have already been handled in some way while I’ve been meditating. That leaves only a few things requiring my attention.

The “myhotel” concept came from two things. First, the “my” brand means “I’ll do it my way.” When I started, hotels were designed by men for men. It was a cookie-cutter approach, and I didn’t want to do it that way. Research showed that we were moving into a lifestyle decade, and that women were going to contribute more at the executive level. Also, we wanted to meet people at the human level, not just deal with corporate transactions. So “my” also means an individual experience for each guest.

Where we still pioneer is with the distinct local flavour of our hotels. We look at each market we’re in, separately, and tailor products and services to that market. The culture and values are the same, but the expression of those values differs from location to location. That definitely came from TM, specifically Maharishi’s idea of unity in diversity.”

After I did the first week of Transcendental Meditation where I did it twice a day, from that moment on I’ve never been that frazzled or that tired ever again. It was like it sort of restored my body on such a deep level. There was like a week’s worth of sleep. From that moment forward it was like I knew day and way. My whole nervous system reacted differently. I feel much less panicked and anxious and more calm about things. But I also feel deeply centered and rested.”

The Technique: Transcendental Meditation is a simple, natural, effortless technique practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. It is easy to learn and enjoyable to practice, and is not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. Over six million people have learned it — people of all ages, cultures, and religions — and over 350 published, peer-reviewed research studies have found that the TM technique significantly reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue, and promotes balanced functioning of mind and body.

In that spirit, here are my 10 favorite quotes about (non-romantic) love:

10.

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

– Buddha

9.

I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.

– Arthur Rubinstein

8.

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

– Oscar Wilde

7.

He who treads the path of love walks a thousand meters as if it were only one.

– Japanese proverb

6.

When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.

– Paulo Coelho (from The Alchemist)

5.

A loving heart, a heart full of love, is the precious essence of human life.

– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (from Love and God)

4.

…love is no individual’s experience; and though we are imperfect mediums, it does not partake of our imperfection; though we are finite, it is infinite and eternal…

– Henry David Thoreau (from Love)

3.

Your task is not to seek love, but to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

– Rumi

2.

Love, and you shall be loved.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

1.

Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.

– Rumi

Bonus round! I’m big on the idea that when you love yourself, you have that much more natural capacity and inclination to love others. When it comes down to it, that is why I continue practicing the Transcendental Meditation technique. It makes me feel good, and it helps me love myself, which in turn helps me love everything else. Here are some words from Maharishi on love and the TM technique:

“The fortunate one uses the instrument of deep meditation and probes deep into his heart. Then the waves of love gain the depth of the ocean, and the ocean of love flows and fills the heart and thrills every particle of being. Every wave of life then flows in the fullness of love, in the fullness of divine glory, in the fullness of grace, in bliss and peace.” (From Love and God)

Feel like loving something? Check this out.

The Technique: Transcendental Meditation is a simple, natural, effortless technique practiced 20 minutes twice each day while sitting comfortably with the eyes closed. It is easy to learn and enjoyable to practice, and is not a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. Over six million people have learned it — people of all ages, cultures, and religions — and over 350 published research studies have found that the TM technique significantly reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue, and promotes balanced functioning of mind and body.

Now zoom out. In reality, the ocean beneath you is 2 miles deep. If you look at a cross-section, you can see that the storm affects the surface and a small depth below it, but the deeper you go, the quieter, stiller, and more peaceful the water becomes. The ocean is active on the surface, yet utterly still at its depths. Even if the waves were 200 or 300 feet high, they still wouldn’t disturb the natural silence of the deep.

Your mind is like that ocean. The surface of the mind is the active, thinking mind, and everything you’re thinking about on any given day are the waves. A thousand things might be on your mind at once – deadlines, to-do lists, errands, appointments – but no matter how high the waves roll, there is always, always silence deep within you.

And that deep place of silence and stillness is actually brimming with inner peace, inner happiness, inner inspiration… just waiting for you to access it. It’s just a matter of getting there and bringing a little back up to the surface with you. And that’s where the Transcendental Meditation technique comes in handy.

The TM technique is a vehicle – a submarine, if you will – with which anybody can dive within themselves and access the level of the mind that is always peaceful, always blissful, always alert … the list goes on.

Unlike a submarine, though, it doesn’t take a long time to learn to master it. You learn how to dive within on your first day of instruction.